The medical examiner who deemed Jordan Neely’s death was a homicide caused by Daniel Penny placing him in a chokehold made a stunning admission on the witness stand Friday: she didn’t wait for the toxicology report; the viral video alone of Penny subduing Neely on the New York City subway was what convinced her that Penny killed Neely.
“No toxicological result imaginable was going to change my opinion,” the prosecution’s last witness, Dr. Cynthia Harris of the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office, testified during Penny’s trial, per NBC News reporters present in the courtroom.
So, the forensic pathologist based the autopsy report, in part, off of the footage itself of the fatal encounter, which Harris said she saw was clear-cut evidence ruling out that Neely had died of a drug overdose.
“After watching it, I had no further questions as to why he was dead,” Harris said.
Penny’s defense attorneys questioned Harris about her initially writing “inconclusive” for the cause of death on Neely’s death certificate. One day after Neely’s death, the finding on May 2, 2023, said “pending further study.” The doctor said she eventually decided on asphyxiation, consistent with compression of the neck, upon reviewing the video in question depicting Neely “dying.” […]
— Read More: townhall.com
